My opinion on the current state of affairs

[spoonetti]

It's good to see that Frontier tries everything to fix this game and to bring it up on another level. On the other hand I'm glad I haven't bought PC2 yet, because it's still not where it needs to be to be interesting enough for me to play. But from the perspective of someone who doesn't have this game yet, the whole mess is more bearable. I don't feel the need to get as upset and angry about the game's bugs and missing features as those who have already invested a lot of money in the game.
I can see that Frontier is already on a very good path with PC2, but I've decided to wait until the end of the year to buy the game. By then, I am sure there will be some interesting updates and certainly one or two DLCs. And I really hope that all these updates and DLCs will bring PC2 on the same level as PC1 is. Until then, I will continue to monitor the development closely of course ... here and via the YT videos of Rudi Rennkamel, who keeps us really well updated.

 

[eznapor]

The game is definitely getting there, it's starting to feel more and more polished, and after a few more updates of ironing things out and improving some strange UI choices like they've been doing, and bringing back clearly missing features like hotels, restaurants, vista points and modular gift shops, the game is set to be an incredible foundation for future new features to add to the game genre

 

[Crowdpleaser]

They are not only bringing back old features, but improving them too, like the Billboards (now scalable and other things)
Also the Custom Music got an overhaul. They put all the different speakers in one, making it less confusing which one you need, and also triggered sequences finally start exactly when a flatride is startig up. Unlike in PC1 where there was a delay of 10 seconds or something. So, give them time, don't just yell for the features to be "IN TEH GAME NAO11!!". Let them take their time to polish the features up to give us something better than we had before.

 

[Vampiro]

Everyone should make it's own decission to buy the game or now, and when to do so.

Maybe im biased since I'm a huge Planco addict and have been "on board" since day 1. At the same time, that also make me one of the more critical players. Every bit and piece I'm used to have but is no longer present, I know, I notice and I'm annoyed.
That being said, the game came a long way since release! They fixed a LOT of bugs since release and they work hard to bring back some features from the past. Looking back at the last update you can see the amazing speed in which they deliver. (Custom music, screens, synchronised coasters, switchable trains, etc) all in 1 update.

And the best thing, the updates are being provided in month's back to back! Again everyone decides for themself to buy or not to buy but if you liked Planco 1, you will sure like Planco 2 and don't let the negative reports scare you too much as most of the game-breaking bugs have been solved already in my opinion.

 

[FuddyWoodie]

I think what Frontier do next with Planet Coaster 2 is really quite pivotal in deciding where they're taking their business. Are they going the corporate greed route (which, I think, was what led to the game being released in an unfinished state) in which case, this game will never live up to the expectations of the fans, or are they going to right the wrongs of the release, correct their missteps in the process and salvage their reputation (a la Cyberpunk or No Man's Sky)?

I really hope it's the latter. Far too many companies now sacrificing their hard earned reputations and integrity in the hopes of chasing short term cash. It's such a short sighted business plan that is only going to end one way.

 

[Valdo82]

I actually lost hope, pc2 isn't a bad game, but it is in a weird spot. For me it feels it kinda lacks vision. They had some ideas to push the game forward, but dropped the ball on realising them, a lot of the new systems are really good on paper, but half baked on execution.

At the same time there were a lot of old features missing and they kind of let their fanbase bully them in the old direction by selling them features they had in the old games, but those features aren't enough for me to keep hanging on, over the last 4 months i never had the feeling, that i get that identity this is a standout feature, it is basically planet coaster 1 with water parks.

It is a pretty coaster painter/theme park painter, but the dna of a economical nor infrastructural simulation that was a still build in pc and carried over from RCT is gone.

 

[benmrowe]

It's good to see that Frontier tries everything to fix this game and to bring it up on another level. On the other hand I'm glad I haven't bought PC2 yet, because it's still not where it needs to be to be interesting enough for me to play. But from the perspective of someone who doesn't have this game yet, the whole mess is more bearable. I don't feel the need to get as upset and angry about the game's bugs and missing features as those who have already invested a lot of money in the game.
I can see that Frontier is already on a very good path with PC2, but I've decided to wait until the end of the year to buy the game. By then, I am sure there will be some interesting updates and certainly one or two DLCs. And I really hope that all these updates and DLCs will bring PC2 on the same level as PC1 is. Until then, I will continue to monitor the development closely of course ... here and via the YT videos of Rudi Rennkamel, who keeps us really well updated.

I was frustrated from November to December.

A little annoyed occasionally but generally content from December until Feb.

And since update 2 last week I have REALLY been enjoying the game as a whole.

Games are so complex these days, and devs are under such pressure from publishers, that I have to remind myself not to get too annoyed when things aren't exactly how I want them to be. But - I am completely convinced that Frontier are 100% behind the game and improving it all the time. It is likely they got the economics of this release wrong - the costs of an extra month of development if it had been delayed would probably have been outweighed by extra sales, fewer refunds, better word of mouth etc - so now they're playing catch up with fewer resources; but I am now very happy with my purchase and have put about 200 hours into the game. 30 or more of those were probably wasted in the early release window trying to make the game work as intended before giving up, but the others have all been diverting, fun and interesting.

If they carry on at this rate of improvement I will no doubt be buying DLC, etc, to support continuing development.

 

[nnnnnnitram]

They haven't made a single meaningful change to the management / challenge side of the game yet. All updates are focused on sandbox players. I regret buying it.

 

[Robert K]

But each new update breaks things. Like update 2 broke the path draw tool and some sounds like rides now sound too soft according to complaints, and custom music resets when you go away from a speaker and back to it. Paul mentioned that they are looking into the speaker issue. And if you want more management, go back to the RCT games or Parkitect.

 

[Valdo82]

But each new update breaks things. Like update 2 broke the path draw tool and some sounds like rides now sound too soft according to complaints, and custom music resets when you go away from a speaker and back to it. Paul mentioned that they are looking into the speaker issue. And if you want more management, go back to the RCT games or Parkitect.

sorry, but this is a simple tone deaf answer. If you want to build coasters go to NL2 and so on. They completly neglected the manegerial side of things and probably killed also a lot of the playerbase...as i said above this is where the game is very raw and lacking, and they don't care, don't want to fix it, but this side is rather important: especially if you look under the hood at points like guest generation, ride pricing, luxury needs and so on.

For example a realistic small cozy park with maybe one coaster and 4 flat rides is not possible to establish, cause those numbers are way too high.

Both sides are needed and important to find the niche pc was previous in and if they are not finding back to that niche, the game will die sooner than later.

 

[eznapor]

and some sounds like rides now sound too soft according to complaints

This is a thing!? I am SO happy that the ride sounds are now much quieter. It was horrible before. Sounds great now to me. Ultimately adding more sliders into the audio settings for specific things might be the best way so people can adjust their soundscape how they want it. They added some in the update, so they might add more.

 

[eznapor]

To me, the last update has proven they are seriously on it with improving this game to make it what it should be, and it's quickly getting there to being the foundation it should have been at release. They've fixed hundreds of things, little tiny things that just improve the general feeling and overall polish of the game, and if they keep them coming like this (which the roadmap suggests they will be) we are in for a seriously amazing game as a foundation to introduce new features in the future to push the genre to new heights.

I was very nervous during december and january, but I'm now extremely excited about this game and its future. It did launch in a terrible state, maybe there's a good reason, but it seems they've learnt from it and gone in full force to fix it, that's all you can ask for, and I have a feeling in a few months time we'll have forgotten this rocky launch, like we do with many games.

 

[spoonetti]

Thank you for your statements. Your posts show me that work on the game still needs to be done, but at the same time they are full of optimism, in contrast to the many posts in other topics in this forum. A lot of people are really very frustrated and you get the feeling that Frontier and its developers can do whatever they want: these gamers simply cannot be satisfied! With every new update they find something new to complain about. It's all the nicer that the optimists have come together in my topic. I'm still optimistic and hope that it will be worth it for me to buy it very soon. The reason I'm still putting it off is simply the fact that I have to upgrade my PC first. In times of inflation, this is not a cheap endeavor. And the game itself also has its price. I'm not as poor as a churchmouse, but if I invest a little more money in something, I want to have a certain guarantee that it will really be worth it for me. So I'm going to wait a little longer... with lots of optimisn!!!

 

[eznapor]

The reason I'm still putting it off is simply the fact that I have to upgrade my PC first.

You could always play it on GeForce Now, Nvidia's gaming streaming service, you can stream at max graphics on any computer, it's how I play it on my mac, meaning you wouldn't have to upgrade your PC just to be able to play it. It's also got a free tier (you have to re-launch the game every hour on the free tier). Food for thought!

 

[Ramm]

This recent update didn't do much for me because I mostly don't notice much different yet compared to now vs last November. I guess only people who were able to put up with the game before this February update will notice 'improvement' but when I tried playing after the update there were just too many things that still kept me from really enjoying the game.

Yes i'll wait because I loved the first Planet Coaster game, but I do hope we can get more regular smaller updates maybe even weekly so we don't have to wait a month or more every time.

 

[benmrowe]

This recent update didn't do much for me because I mostly don't notice much different yet compared to now vs last November. I guess only people who were able to put up with the game before this February update will notice 'improvement' but when I tried playing after the update there were just too many things that still kept me from really enjoying the game.

Yes i'll wait because I loved the first Planet Coaster game, but I do hope we can get more regular smaller updates maybe even weekly so we don't have to wait a month or more every time.

The single remaining truly frustrating issue for me (and I appreciate others find other things far more frustrating) is the pricing generation issue. I absolutely SHOULD NOT be able to get more daily income from a helter skelter than from a roller coaster with 7 Fun. It just shouldn't happen. The whole economics side of things needs to be reworked from the ground up - but I understand that it will not be a priority until other more general issues are fixed.

 

[lilibat]

I was hoping we'd get some PC1 decor content with tis update and since we didn't I am still not coming back... yet? Maybe yet. We will see. I really want to play it but I just get frustrated with so many things when I do like kerbs, the stupid interdimensional tree trunks, etc.

 

[Wagi]

Same here. I appreciate the improvements made, but there's still just too many things that continue to frustrate, so I'm busy building a park in PC1. It has it's own frustrations admittedly, but not to the same degree, and many have workarounds. I AM looking forward to the time when PC2 is a little more polished, and fully believe that will be fairly soon.

 

[AlanDunaway3000]

Game performance was a huge mess back on launch. It's better these days. They still have a lot to do to make the game better, like reworking the paths(pathing is annoying as heck in this game, was pretty straightforward back in PC[JWE2 has the same problem]), reworking scenery and things like that.

 

[Robert K]

What bugs me is that we can't make a proper beach park yet with an ocean at one end. There is a scenario in 2 like that in career mode, and will be in sandbox in March, but there are too many hills and mountains, and you are limited in how you can edit the land and the park size is rather small. I liked RCT3's scenario editor and how you could create almost anything and take the backgrounds away.